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In old English law, a court, or mote, held in a port town. [Obs.] Blackstone.

t which, bears; hence, one who, or that which, produces. [Obs.] Branches . . . which were portoirs, and bare grapes. Holland.

The gunwale of a ship. To lower the yards a-portoise, to lower them to the gunwale. -- To ride a portoise, to ride an anchor with the lower yards and topmasts struck or lowered, as in a gale of wind.

See Portass. [Obs.]

A cloth for carrying bread, so as not to touch it with the hands. [Obs.]

awn, or engraved; commonly, a representation of the human face painted from real life. In portraits, the grace, and, we may add, the likeness, consists more in the general air than in the exact similitude of every feature. Sir J. Reynolds.

A portrait painter. [R.] Hamerton.

A portrait; a likeness; a painted resemblance; hence, that which is copied from some example or model. For, by the image of my cause, I see The portraiture of his. Shak. Divinity maketh the love of ourselves the pattern; the love of our neighbors but the portraiture. Bacon.

To paint or draw the likeness of; as, to portray a king on horseback. Take a tile, and lay it before thee, and portray upon it the city, even Jerusalem. Ezek. iv. 1.

The act or process of portraying; description; delineation.

One who portrays. Chaucer.

A port warden.

A female porter. Milton.

Public or open sale; auction. [Obs.] Holland.

A breviary. [Eng.]

Of or pertaining to Portugal, or its inhabitants. -- n. sing. & pl.

A genus of polypetalous plants; also, any plant of the genus.

Of or pertaining to a natural order of plants (Portulacaceæ), of which Portulaca is the type, and which includes also the spring beauty (Claytonia) and other genera.

An outer port, gate, or door.

An outer porch or vestibule.